Some very fun Things to do in wine country in January

As the saying goes, “Just Do It,” and head to wine country in January. California wine country is so beautiful and lovely this time of the year. Crowds are few and far between and tasting rooms are quiet. The vineyards with their bare, wild-looking vines are a spectacular sight. Wild mustard and cover crops add another layer of beauty to the rows of vines. Yes, there can be some rainy days but overall January is a very inviting month in California wine country. Here are several suggestions for fun things to do in January in wine country.

Bare vines with cover crops just beginning to grow

Visit tasting rooms and take a wine tour – January is best

This is why wine travelers come to the wine country, to sample wines made by various wineries. The difference in January is that the tasting rooms are much less crowded. In the smaller wineries, you might find the winemaker, assistant winemaker, or owner working the tasting room. Chances are you will get more attention and likely an extra taste of something special. If the tasting room offers a tour, take it. The cellar is usually quiet as well. The flurry of harvest is over and now most of the grape juice is resting and aging.

Take a hike

Yes, it may be chilly but hiking in wine country is invigorating. Work up an appetite and take in views most travelers do not see in wine country. Check our Things to Do in each of our wine regions and you find some very nice hiking paths and trails. We like hiking the Napa Vine Trail from Yountville towards Napa. In Healdsburg, we love the Healdsburg Ridge Hike.

Treat yourself to a massage, a mudbath, or a facial

Spa treatments can be found in any of the wine regions. Napa Valley and Sonoma are particularly known for their many spas. Calistoga in the Napa Valley has made the mud bath and hot springs an inviting activity.

Shop the boutique shops and art galleries

Each wine country town has an excellent collection of boutique shopping and art galleries. Around the Plaza in Healdsburg, the Sonoma Plaza, or Paso Robles City Park, you can shop all day long. Antiquing is also a good choice. The bonus in January is that there are fewer travelers and more time to browse and get great deals. If you want to combine wine tasting and art, follow the Art and Wine Lovers Trail in the Napa Valley.

Head to Mendocino

Mendocino is a very romantic town on the Pacific Coast. But getting there adds to the experience. The Anderson Valley is on the way to Mendocino. It is the land of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Alsatian white wine varieties. Highway 128 to the coast is breathtaking. The town of Boonville in the Anderson Valley is a delight. We love what we call the Big Three wineries. Pack a lunch and, even in cold weather, picnicking among the vineyards is rejuvenating.

Head to romantic Mendocino and, on the way, taste wine in the Anderson Valley

Events in January 2018

Because January is the quietest month in wine country, several wine regions schedule planned events. Here is a list:

Winter Wineland January 19, 20 in Healdsburg Area – this can get crowded and hectic, but folks love this annual event. See details

Calistoga’s Winter in the Wineries PassportThe event runs from December 2 to February 4, 2018. Purchase passports and enjoy activities at 17 Calistoga wineries. See details at Winter in the Wineries Passport 2018-2019.

How to Plan a Wine Country Bocce Party

Gather your family or friends for a casual wine country Bocce party. The great thing about Bocce is you do not need to be athletic to have fun and participate in a competitive game of Bocce. Young and old, fit or out of shape, all can be equals in this fun game. Add the environment of wine country and double your fun. If you follow these tips, you are sure to have a fantastic time and enjoy the many rewards of playing Bocce with family or friends in wine country.

Brutocoa Winery has six Bocce Courts

Invite your family or friends and pick a convenient date.

Select a winery where you can play Bocce for at least a couple of hours. A complete listing of wineries in California with Bocce Courts is listed below.

Make sure you can reserve the courts and give yourself ample time to complete the tournament. With 6 couples playing on 4 courts, it takes about 6 hours to play, including time out for lunch.

Select lodging and dining nearby the Bocce venue.

Select a type of tournament play: Single elimination, double elimination, round robin, or what have you.

Play a short version of the game. Play to a score of nine and win by at least two points. The Simple rules of Bocce are listed below.

Who is the commissioner? Assign someone to track wins and losses, settle disagreements. A tape measure is a must!

What is the prize for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd?

How about a trophy (bottle of wine) for the winning team

The Bocce Court at Trinchero in St. Helena

For the past eleven years, we have been hosting a Bocce Tournament. The past six years we have been reserving the courts at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville. We order a catered lunch at the winery and water, etc. This past year we lodged in Healdsburg. We chose two friendly restaurants where we could reserve a table for 14 people. Campo Fina was our first-night choice and Bravas Bar de Tapas was our second-night choice. They both have outdoor seating and a casual atmosphere. We have a perpetual trophy, an empty Jeroboam-sized bottle, that we award to the winning team. We also puck down $20 a couple and divide it for first, second, and third place. It is all done in fun and is an event we highly anticipate each year.

Where and What is Franciacorta?

You know Champagne! You probably know Cava from Spain. But you most likely do not now about Franciacorta sparkling wine. Where and what is Franciacorta? Franciacorta is an area of Italy that produces a high-quality sparkling wine. After attending an excellent tasting of Franciacorta in San Francisco, I am convinced that we will see more Franciacorta coming to fine wine shops and becoming very popular in the U.S. It is delicious and rivals the best from Champagne and other great sparkling wine producers from around the world.

In the Province of Brescia in northern Italy

Where is Franciacorta?

Franciacorta is an area that consists of 19 municipalities all in the province of Brescia in Northern Italy. The largest and closest big city is Brescia. Many wine travelers arrive in Franciacorta from the Verona Airport and then drive an hour to the Franciacorta area. In 1995, the area of Franciacorta was awarded DOCG status by the Italian government. Vineyard plantings amount to 7,800 acres, and that is about one-tenth the size of Champagne. In March of 2009, the Franciacorta Consortium was formed and consists of 29 producers.

What is Franciacorta?

Franciacorta sparkling wine is a world-class wine. It is made in the same traditional manner as what is done in the Champagne region of France, Methode Champenoise. A second fermentation, which takes place in a closed bottle, creates the bubbles. The grapes used in the making of Franciacorta are Chardonnay, Pinot Nero, and Pinot Bianco. Non-vintage Franciacorta must age at least 18 months in the bottle. In the photo below are riddling racks. Riddling is an ancient craft where cellar workers turn each bottle 1/8 of turn daily and bang the bottle back in place. Sediment and dead yeast cells move to the neck of the bottle by this action. Read: “How sparkling wine is made.”

Riddling Racks in a Franciacorta cellar

Tasting Franciacorta Sparkling wine

What we find in tasting Franciacorta is an excellent and delicate sparkling wine, filling the sensory modes with many flavors. Subtle apple, pear, and mineral characteristics abound. It is a fun wine but also serious enough for celebrating the best of occasions. Add a few bottles of Franciacorta to your wine cellar. Use the Wine-Searcher.com to find where you can purchase Franciacorta near you.

We visited the Franciacorta region in 2011 while attending the European Bloggers Conference. If you love traveling the world in search of wine, think about this beautiful spot in Northern Italy. There are biking and hiking trails that are beyond spectacular. What a way to vacation! Please see the Franciacorta Wine Tourism Website.

Wine and art together at these five Napa Valley wineries

The appreciation of wine and art go together. Both involve the senses in a deep and complex manner. Both are good for the soul. With this in mind, we have designed a new wine trail for WineCountryGetaways.com. It is the Wine and Art Lover’s Trail. It includes five outstanding wineries that also have art collections for wine tasters to enjoy. For those wine lovers who appreciate art, it makes good sense to plan to visit at least a few of these wineries on a Napa Valley wine country getaway. These are the five wineries we have chosen for our Wine and Art Lover’s Wine Trail. There are many other wineries and tasting rooms with art exhibits, but we have singled out these five as top tourist choices.

For additional details on each of these art wineries and a wine route map, go to Wine and Art Lover’s Wine Route page. These are popular wineries during peak season, so plan for an early day visit or go during the week.

Cabernet Sauvignon is the specialty at the Silver Oak Winery in Oakville – Napa Valley

Do you like a certain wine varietal of red or white wine that is your favorite? Why not base your wine country travels on your preferred wine grape. Here is a list of the top wine varietals and where to find these wines in wine country. Hit the tasting rooms that specialize in these varietals. Collect your favorite wines from the tasting room visits for a blind wine tasting. Invite your friends over for a wine tasting party and see which wine is everyone’s favorite.

These are our personal favorite wine regions for each of these popular wine varietals. Each of these wines can be found in other wine regions of California. One can easily make a case for one wine region producing the best for each of these wine types. Tell us in the comment section your favorite wine varietal and the best wine region or AVA that makes this wine.

Is Sutter Creek the best wine town in the Sierra Foothills?

Here are some reasons why we think it is.

Close to wineries

Sutter Creek is 20 minutes away from the Shenandoah Valley in the Plymouth area. There are over 40 wineries in this area of Amador County. The wineries are mostly small and family owned. Most of the wineries are open from Thursday to Sunday, but several others are open daily. This wine country features some lovely side country roads lined with oak trees, grasslands and vineyards. For more wine adventures, travelers can head into the Fair Play wine region of El Dorado County. There are 19 wineries there, and many feature Rhone-style wines. Our favorite wineries are listed in our Sierra Foothills Wine Routes.

Excellent B&B’s

Sutter Creek offers many choices in B&B accommodations. Leading the way is the newly-remodeled Hanford House Inn. Owners Robert and Athena Gordon are wonderful hosts. Other B&B’s include the Eureka Street Inn and the Grey Gables Inn. The Hotel Sutter has also recently been remodeled and has a lively bar and restaurant.

Tasting Room Row

In this small town, there are nine tasting rooms. They have their own Website, Sutter Creek Wine on Main, with complete visiting details. We like Yorba, Scott Harvey and Baiocchi. We really have not had much chance to visit the others, but I would guess they are also good. On Thursday, Yorba stays open until 7 pm. Beginning at 5 pm, catered food from Lucy’s Spice Box is featured along with the great Yorba wines.

A historic gold mining town

Sutter Creek is where the gold discoveries began in California. There are lots of historic treasures, and visitors can take a tour of some of the old mining caves. If you are a California history buff, you will find plenty to do in the Sutter Creek area. The Sutter Creek Association has a complete list of the tours and historic gold mining sites.

Boutique shops

Even though the town is all of three blocks long, you can spend a lazy afternoon visiting many boutique shops loaded with knick-knacks, antiques, artworks and other goodies. Sandwich in a couple of wine tasting visits while browsing the cool shops.

Gourmet Dining

The Hotel Sutter and Susan’s Place are the top dining spots for now. But soon, the Element Restaurant at the Hanford House Inn will be serving gourmet dinners. Hanford House presently serves a fantastic breakfast. I am sure that we can expect some delicious dinner meals by mid Spring. Additionally, there are the Sutter Creek Cheese Shoppe, Sutter Creek Provisions and Cavana’s Deli for gourmet items not found at the local markets.

The town of Volcano and Daffodil Hill

Volcano is an even smaller town 13 miles from Sutter Creek. Up in Volcano is the St. George Hotel. It is a historic place with an old saloon and restaurant. It is a fun spot. There is also the Union Inn and Pub. From late March to mid-April (depending on the weather), Daffodil Hill is a huge attraction. See our article on our visit there in late Feb.

Amador Flower Farm

While wine tasting in the Shenandoah Valley, mix in a trip to the finest garden nursery in Amador County. It’s the Amador Flower Farm on Shenandoah School Road. They have a wide variety of flowers, plants, and trees available. They also have a good selection of garden-related merchandise for sale.

Sutter Creek Slide Show

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The slide show gives you a quick glance at all the interesting and exciting things you can do in and around Sutter Creek. Sutter Creek is on the rise and it is destined to become one of the more popular wine country towns in California.

Something missing?

Did we miss something? An attraction, restaurant or lodging? Please post in the comment section. Even though Sutter Creek is small, there is always something new each time we visit.

I would be remiss if I did not include the Lockeford Meat and Sausage Services in my series of articles about our recent trek to the Sierra Foothills wine country. There are many routes to the towns of Sutter Creek, Jackson, and Plymouth in Amador County. If you are leaving from the San Francisco area or San Francisco Peninsula, you are likely to take the route that goes to Highway 88 off Highway 5 and through the small town of Lockeford. Here is where Lockeford Meat and Sausage Services is located.

Sausage capitol of California

From the outside, Lockeford Meat and Sausage looks very ordinary, sparse, and uninviting. But inside it’s a sausage lover’s delight. I think I counted at least 15 different types of sausages located under the butcher counter. These are no ordinary sausages by any means. The size is extra long and thick. The air permeates with the smell of fresh sausage. The sausages are all made in the back with five employees preparing the sausages, and sometimes experimenting with recipes to create a new sausage style.

We stopped in at Lockeford Meat and Sausage on the way up to Sutter Creek to check the place out and pick up a few order forms to share with the others in our party. On a Thursday morning, the sausage company had only a handful of customers. We did not want to buy any sausages then; what would we do with dozens of sausages in our B&B? We took orders from our friends, and on our way back home stopped in at Lockeford Meat and Sausage to buy the sausages.

On that Saturday it was a different ball game at Lockeford Meat and Sausage. There was a lineup of patrons stretching well outside the front door. When I finally made my way to the counter I asked if this was typical for a Saturday. His response was, “It will be crazy like this all day long.” I think you would be hard pressed to find a sausage company more popular anywhere in California.

Most popular sausage

Besides the sausages, Lockeford Meat and Sausage Services has different cuts of meat for sale. In the display case, my eye caught the Mexican Chorizo. It was not in a casing as most chorizo is sold, but in a patty of ground marinated pork. This is just what I needed. I love mixing a little chorizo with my fried eggs or adding chorizo to a bowl of refried beans. This chorizo is delicious and tastes very similar to the chorizo my mother made for us when I was growing up in San Francisco.

These sausages are so pungent! Even though they were wrapped in butcher paper in a plastic bag, our car was filled with the inviting smell of fresh sausages. I am very happy we were not in bear country! Lockeford Meat and Sausage Services is located at 19775 Cotton Street in Lockeford. The store is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sun. No Website to speak of. Why bother when you already have plenty of business through word of mouth? One more thing, when you shop at Lockeford Meat and Sausage, bring cash. They do not take credit cards or checks.

How Tempranillo Blanco came to be

We all know about the grand grape of Spain, Tempranillo. The Rioja, Ribera Del Duero, Toro, and other wine regions of Spain produce beautiful red wines from this grape. In our previous post we explained the origin of Tempranillo and its qualities. When we met with Rafael Vivanco at his demonstration vineyard garden we learned about Tempranillo Blanco, a very new grape found only in the Rioja wine region.

Tempranillo Blanco is a grape that mutated naturally. This happened in 1995 in the village of Murillo near Logrono, Spain. An old wine grower discovered in the middle of his vineyard one shoot on his Tempranillo vine yielding white clusters of grapes. He immediately called the University of Rioja Enology Center. The university began experimentations and determined this was a natural mutation resulting in a change in the Tempranillo grape to its color and to the size of the berry. In 2008 the grape was recognized officially by the government of Spain as Tempranillo Blanco. Immediately following the authorization of Tempranillo Blanco, Rafael planted vines and currently has 12 hectares of Tempranillo Blanco.

Listen as Rafael explains how he currently uses Tempranillo Blanco and what he may do in the future.

The Bodegas Dinastia Vivanco is located in the town of Briones, Spain. The winery is unique in that it has, in addition to its winemaking cellars, the demonstration garden, a fabulous restaurant, and what is regarded as the greatest wine museum in the world. For the wine country traveler to Spain, this winery is a “must visit.”

Rene Barbier at Clos Mogadar

We continue with our summary of the outstanding wineries that we visited in the Priorat and Montsant wine regions, on our Press Trip for the Digital Wine Communication Conference, in October of this year. On a warm sunny afternoon, our caravan of two off-road vehicles carrying 14 wine bloggers arrived at the famed vineyards of Clos Mogador in the village of Gratallops. It is here where we meet the legendary Rene Barbier, and perhaps you might say, the Robert Mondavi of the Priorat wine region. As we stroll along his Garnacha vines, he speaks with passion about his land and the wines he produces.

In the early 1980’s Rene Barbier, along with Alvaro Palacios (Bodegas Palacios in the Rioja) and a few others, became fascinated with the potential of the Priorat becoming a great winemaking area. They knew that there was a unique terroir, great climate and slate soil. The area’s vineyards had been devastated by Phylloxera in the early 1900’s, and then came the Spanish Civil War. People left in droves and there was no thought of revitalizing the vineyard land until Rene Barbier and his friends came along. 1989 was the first vintage of Rene’s Priorat wine. It only took a few more years before wine critics around the globe became enamored with the Priorat wine.

In a beautiful setting, with the village of Gratallops as the backdrop, Rene Barbier explains that we are looking at a Garnacha vineyard like no other in the Priorat. This vineyard has many vines that are up to 100 years old, but interspersed are new vines that are only 2 years old. In the back of the vineyard are 15-year-old vines, and to the right are 35-year-old vines. Rene is constantly replanting. He also allows many wild plants to grow among the vines, believing that biodiversity is good for the soil and the vines. He is also planting many “cereal plants” among the vines, expecting that they will be beneficial to the vines. All his old vines are dry farmed. Newly planted vines do receive some water but once the roots take hold they are dry farmed.

In 2005 this Garnacha vineyard was given the highest possible designation. In the U.S. any winery can label a wine as a single vineyard wine. All we know about that wine is that it came from one vineyard but, of course, we know little about the quality of that vineyard. Rene’s Clos Mogador Vineyard has been given the estate vineyard designation by the Spanish government. Only the grapes from that vineyard can go into that wine. If the vintage is not good that year, the wine cannot be produced. The wine produced from this vineyard is called Clos Mogador.

Some distance away Rene also has a vineyard that is all Carigane. From those grapes he produces a wine called Manyetes. It is mostly Carigane and highly regarded. He shows us a house above the hill and tells us that is a vineyard from which he makes a unique white wine called Nelin. It is prominently Garnacha Blanc, but has a blend of four other grapes including Pinot Noir.

We stroll around a corner of the vineyards and in front of us is a wonderful tasting area. The table is old millstone and the bench has been constructed from stones. Here we taste the lineup of the Clos Mogador wines. Included in the tasting are back vintages of the 2001 Clos Mogador and the 2001 Manyetes. The wines are all amazing, deep, dark colored, rich in flavors and highly complex. We taste a back vintage of the white Nelin wine and it is lush. How often does one get a chance to try wines of extreme high quality alongside their legendary winemaker in the vineyards from which they were made? Memorable!

Cellar De Capcanes and the Kosher Wines

Of all the exciting wineries we visited in October on our European Wine Bloggers Pre-Conference trip to the Priorat and Montsant wine regions in Spain, one of the most interesting to me was Celler de Capcanes. What is unique about this winery is that they produce 3 Kosher wines: Peraj Ha’abib, Flor del Flor de Primavera and Peraj petita. Even though Kosher wines account for only 2% of Capcanes’ production, these wines are highly popular in Barcelona.

One of three kosher wines produced at Capcanes

Kosher wine production inside the gate

Not being Jewish, I knew almost nothing about Kosher wines. I was fascinated to learn of the many restrictions placed on the making and handling of wine to comply with Jewish Law. All aspects of the production and handling of Kosher wine before and after the bottle has been opened must be done by Jewish hands. Even by just looking at a wine, a non-Jew can contaminate it. For that reason, the Kosher cellars at Capcanes are closed to visitors.

Capcanes has a long history dating back to the Middle Ages. Over the years, many people left the area for bigger cities following the devastation to vineyards from Phylloxera and the advent of industrialization. In 1933, five families from the village established a co-operative, so they’d be able to survive as farmers and be able to efficiently sell their grapes. A significant change came in 1995 when the Jewish community of Barcelona, 100 miles away, asked Capcanes to produce a Kosher wine. That required new equipment to be installed. From the popularity of these Kosher wines, Capcanes attracted investors, and much of the winery was remodeled and modernized. The other 98% of Capcanes’ wines now enjoy a distinctive reputation around the world.

Our tour and tasting was led by Jurgen Wagner. He is the co-winemaker and the director of operations at Capcanes. In the photo below he is pictured with an assistant currently interning at Capcanes in the production of Kosher wines.

Jurgen Wagner with the intern

On a side note, one of the wines produced at Capcanes is a wine that we have purchased locally at K&L Wines. It is produced specifically for the U.S. market and imported by Eric Solomon. The wine is Mas Donis Barrica, and the current vintage is 2009. It is a highly acclaimed wine and value priced at $11.99. It is delicious and is a great choice for your Thanksgiving dinner. You can read Joe’s review of the Mas Donis at Wine Values and Bargains.